Yuushitsu
by K-K-Girl
Summary: Chihiro is ill and in the spirit world. she's close to not living. Haku and another girl? will Chihiro survive this?


A/N: okay, I got the idea for this while doing a last-minute (so I need the extra credit... so what?) report on Mononucleosis. Mononucleosis is (a six-syllable word) a disease that is spread through contact of infected saliva. Swapping spit is the most prominent way, thus, this disease is often nicknamed the "Kissing Disease". Fascinating, huh? So, this popped up. *NOTE: Chihiro's sickness in here isn't necessarily Mono, just to let you know.  
  
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Spirited Away, and I sure as hell don't own Mononucleosis. *shivers*  
  
SUMMERY: After a traumatizing incident, Chihiro finds herself in the Spirit World. She is sick, it seems, and manages to find the Aburaya. She is both physically and emotionally weary/hurt, and Yubaba takes pity on her, and allows her to sign another contract. Then she sets Haku to look after her (I'll explain that later) and cure her, because, she is apparently ill. Haku has another girl? Will Chihiro survive her illness? Even so, will she survive herself? Or will the enticing knife on the bedside table win her over?  
  
WARNINGS: Romance... Angst, okay? And drama. And horror. You know? Trauma. Dark, dark, dark ficlet I'm attempting to make now... lessee, what else? Character death, tissue-warnings? Humph. It depends on what your tolerance and POV is. For example, I read an angst fic once and read the reviews, and while I had been crying half the time through it (and let the author know in my review) other reviewers claimed they had laughed their bony little *bleeps!* off and commented on the sad angst-attempt. So, like I said, it depends.  
  
Genre: check out the warnings, idiot.  
  
Rating: PG13 for now.  
  
Four Years After The Movie  
  
ALL OF THE ABOVE APPLY TO ALL FUTURE CHAPTERS! I WILL ONLY USE AN AUTHOR'S NOTE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS! Thank you.  
  
Chihiro's POV  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
~ Rain, rain... ~  
  
It was a dark, stormy night. Heh. Sounds like the opening to a novel by Michael Crichton. I rested my chin in a hand and stared out the car window. It was not only dark and stormy, but practically PITCH BLACK and what's another hard core word for STORMY?  
  
I sighed. Tears. They were just like the rain, except they stopped sooner. I wished they wouldn't. I would rather cry for the rest of my life and waste away.  
  
We had moved from Tokyo in the first place because of Akio's, my father's, job. We had been shifted around the different parts before, when I was a baby, but had managed to settle down in Tokyo for nine years. Then we got shipped off to some suburban wasteland for four years. During those four years, we moved from our beautiful little cottage (note the sarcasm?) by the woods to an apartment in the next town due to my having been ranting about spirits and being in love. A bit of hospitalization had taken care of that. Now we were going on to a different place.  
  
I remember I was heartbroken to leave Tokyo. All of my friends. My school. My home.  
  
But I was even more (literally) heartbroken to be leaving the Wasteland of my Dreams because just when Akio, Yuuko, and I were arriving, I had the most amazing adventure.  
  
Ten years old. one would think it's not possible to fall in love at the age of ten, and never fall out again in so long a time.  
  
I had seen neither hide nor tail of Haku and Co. for four years. Four long years of silence, waiting, suffering. Four years of being a social outcast, of being alone except for the comforting thoughts of my friends, and of my love. He had promised we would meet again. Promised. Told me never to look back - so I can only assume that not going back was for the safety and greater good.  
  
It hurt, during those four years, it hurt having to be stuck in an apartment where I could not even catch a glimpse of the tree line. Let alone see The Tunnel which was connected to the station, then field, then...  
  
Now, as we drove through this heavy sheet of fog and rain, I can only stare out the window and cry silently. The road we're taking is supposed to pass by the forest. Not That Part of the forest, but still, the forest. My forest.  
  
And it was raining! Day looked like the blackest, moonless, starless night ever! Foggy as well, and thunder, lightning, even hard heavy drops of rain!  
  
I wouldn't be able to see it.  
  
I can only cry silently.  
  
~ Go away... ~  
  
silently. I have always been so silent, for four years. Almost five, now, actually. After coming "home" from the "hospital" I guess I just didn't see the point in talking. All it does is annoy people, irritate your throat, make you short of breath... and it betrays you. why talk? I do it as little as possible.  
  
The same goes for any other sound.  
  
Akio and Yuuko - when did I stop thinking of them as Okaasan and Otousan? - we've grown apart.  
  
But they still notice. I think I scare them.  
  
"Chihiro? Chihiro, honey, what's wrong? Are you feeling okay?" Yuuko asked, unbuckling her seatbelt and leaning around her seat to look at me. there was nothing but blackness out the window. Might as well. I looked at her.  
  
"Fine," I whispered hoarsely, to humor her. I wiped the tears away even though they continued to fall. "I'm fine, Yuu- Okaasan."  
  
She flinched. I had almost called her by her name. I should have watched myself more closely.  
  
"Are we there yet?" I asked, raising my voice to Akio's hearing level. It seemed to always be a bit out of my reach.  
  
"We just left thirty minutes ago, Chihiro," he said. "We still have - AARGH!"  
  
He wasn't the only one to scream. So did Yuuko, and I guess I did as well.  
  
Something slammed into us from the side, on Akio's side, and we went skidding off the side of the road, the road out in the middle of nowhere with no other cars or whatnot nearby, and we flipped, landing upside down in a trench, maybe.  
  
Or a ditch? There was a trickle of water. It was a big ditch, or a small river.  
  
River.  
  
Pain.  
  
Tears began to fall again.  
  
"Hoy," I said weakly, blinking through the blackness.  
  
~ Come again ... ~  
  
I shook my head a little to clear it - my seatbelt was still holding me. heh.  
  
The car - no, it must have been a truck.  
  
The truck had hit us on Akio's side. I could make an educated guess as to whether my father was conscious or not. Yuuko's seatbelt had been off. I would make another guess as to who was conscious or not.  
  
"Hoy!" I repeated, with growing apprehension. "Okaasan! Otousan! Say something!"  
  
They didn't answer.  
  
A coldness gripped me. though I felt strangely numb around them, they were still my parents.  
  
My parents... were they? Could they be?...  
  
No. of course not.  
  
I screamed again as something hit the car again, and was flipped over to the side. I gasped, only dimly aware of the stabbing pain at my left shoulder.  
  
I was left handed.  
  
The door - no, that entire side of the car! - was ripped off, and coldness attacked my body, instantly making me shiver. In an instant I was soaked, and a silhouette above me was outlined during a flash of lightning and boom of thunder.  
  
"Okaasan!" I screamed as a pair of hands gripped me and jerked me out. "Otousan! Help! Wake up, mommy! Daddy! Wake up, help, please, wake up!" I began to sob as I was jerked and pulled out by the warm/wet body, and thrown against the edge of the ditch.  
  
I could smell his breath.  
  
Alcohol.  
  
Suddenly, a flashlight was lit, by somebody else. Vision hard and blurred, I couldn't even hear my own voice as I screamed when two other figures reached in and pulled something out that was wet... Bloody... it was yellow, I think.  
  
Yuuko's shirt was yellow.  
  
"OKAASAN!" I screamed, and this time I heard my broken and hoarse voice even clearer.  
  
"They're dead," Alcohol Breath hissed loudly in my ear. He straddled me.  
  
"No," I whispered. "No! NO!" help me, help me, somebody, please, help me! "Haku!" I screamed. "Haku, Otousan, Okaasan, somebody, help!"  
  
There was a harsh laughter. Slurred laughter. He was drunk. Who was he? The other two figures? Had they killed...? No! despite myself, I wouldn't be able to live without Yuuko and Akio. It was hard enough without Haku. I would die without them.  
  
And then... I tasted alcohol as a mouth crashed against mine with bruising effects.  
  
I screamed through the kiss and tried to break away, scream some more, but it was like my lack of oxygen had just been doubled, I couldn't breathe, his hands groped in the dark, ripping soaking fabric in some places, my throat was sore and hurt. I rarely talked this much in a month, let alone scream in a minute.  
  
I managed to break away slightly when his tongue and lips left mine, and I choked, struggling as hard as I could on adrenaline, trying to scream my loudest.  
  
He only laughed (choked and cursed slightly when I landed my right elbow to his groin) and laughed some more, groping in the wet darkness, face back on mine.  
  
I became even more aware of my surroundings. The thunder that boomed and the lightning that crackled left my hair on end, though it was so heavy with water in my ponytail and purple pony tail holder, from Zeniiba, Kaonashi, Yuu-bird, and Bou. My eyes, which were wide open, couldn't seem to cry any more. It was like I was stricken. They hurt. The ditch or whatever was already filled up to my elbows, laying in it as I was, and it was thick, more mud than anything else.  
  
Blood.  
  
~ Another day... ~  
  
I ripped my face to the side, screaming my hoarse voice and lungs so hard that they hurt beyond all belief. With more energy then I had ever had in my entire life time, I ripped away from him slightly, rolled over to my side (effectively knocking him off balance) and managed to kick/struggle free. I ran, sloshing, stumbling, screaming, tripping in the muddy water, more mud than water, seriously.  
  
I don't know if I was pursued.  
  
Blood. It had drifted in the mud? Or rain? I had seen it. I had felt it. I could feel it.  
  
Somehow, I managed to scramble out of the ditch, blood on my hands, my knees, legs... why oh why did I have to wear that dumb thigh-length skirt from my old school? My uniform in complete? A T-shirt with the sailor thing and the really short skirt that puffed out, knee-high socks and black shoes.  
  
There were trees around me. I crashed into a few, even. I thought I heard noises behind me... adrenaline pumped itself all out into my blood stream, and I quickened my pace. No longer screaming.  
  
Why was it so dark? Even for whether like this, it should still be brighter for a late afternoon! The sun shouldn't set for another hour, at least! Or was I wrong?  
  
The rain beat down hard upon me, washing away some blood and mud, sticking my ponytail hair to my head, my bangs plastered to my face. They had grown out now so that they were the same length as my "sideburns" and I used clips to hold them out of my face. The clips were still there. And so was my purple hair-band.  
  
I was slowed greatly by a sudden exhaustion that seized me. the rain as well, the wind, the darkness, my breathing was broken and ragged. I wished I could cry - but no tears came.  
  
Suddenly, I slammed into something, a stone about to my waist, maybe? And I made an honest attempt at a scream, reeling. For a moment, everything was dizzy, disoriented, and the ground connected with my back.  
  
The storm continued to roar.  
  
It took me a moment to realize I was in a spot where it wasn't raining.  
  
Rolling over, I shouted out in pain from my shoulder, but managed to stumble to my feet anyway.  
  
The man had ripped off my shirt in total, I finally found out, and a good chunk of my bra, but that was it.  
  
I tried to run, but it was so pitch black and loud, echoing, I could only manage a small walk.  
  
Haku, where are you? Yuuko? Akio? All of you, where are you? where am I?  
  
Suddenly, I gasped as I stumbled into and over something.  
  
Grass. It was raining, but only lightly. There was little thunder, and a small crack of lightning. How long had I been wandering in the dry blackness of wherever I was?  
  
~ Rain, rain, go away... ~  
  
I got up awkwardly. I stumbled forward, and stumbled right into some water. I gave a small, hoarse cry through my rough throat as my knees, elbows, palms, and shoulder came in contact with it.  
  
Salt water?  
  
I fell backwards and passed out.  
  
~ Come again another day... ~ 


End file.
